October 23 in the mountains

morning of the 8th of october 23 .... at 9.45 a good well fed Sparrow Hawk (female by its size?) the smaller brother or the Gosh Hawk sat under the garden bank on his prey, near the old Sheibtruachn .... frechly sprayed against the rust.

Eveneing of the 30th septembro, when it was dark allreday a Waldkauzf visited near teh window and looked into my window from the Holzlagen Dachkante. .. distance 6 meters, when the move detector at garden side went ON !

Moelltal bis Moldau

    We had our meeting at the starting point in the Alps quite exact as some smart devices predicted. The same day we had enough time for grilling, further preparations, two trips for the local construction site got done during which we saw in short distance in front of the car on gravelroad the young Hoopoe - Wiedehopf from this year !!
    A local colourfull migrant bird, and at same time a big grown up Sparrow Hawk, must have been a proper female which took off from a close tree, dancing in the hot winds then.

    Short after when it got cooler the day our grilling went big and tasty, we two old guys and the boys were happy. Next day morning we had our two boats allready on the car.



    Some three days later, after a stopover in Salzburg city, we started the tour on river Moldau - Vltava at Vyssi Brod in souther Tschechien. There were many other boats onriver at the time and it was mostly packed with boats and rafts specially before the Rutschen-slides, a bid messy between the other rafts.

    Then short after it got more easy and quiet back on the river, but yet far too many boats to make any special nature observations, but two young Goosander- Merganser- Gaensesaeger at afternoon at a more quiet section. The next day from Ceske Krumlow (Krumau) it must have been the territory of fish otters, you could see some traces and paths in the mostly dense and high vegetation. Also a bulk of breites Pfeilkraut got seen and the most impressing Himalayan Springkraut which I like so much in full blossom over wide parts along shores ! Sometimes here and then the melodies of Smetanas Molda got heared ! No subwoover could beat that !



    Early morning the second day when it wsa yet yet quiet onriver I got to see a nice colorfull spotted Kingfisher.

    Paddlers had most of their proviant on the rafts with them, what was neccesary, as some rest places were most basic. At one main place they seem to have short before finished the ghats and stairs to the river, with two restaurants, not yet in full service gear.
    During offseason it should be possible to see some otters or get in sight of big fish.


Aktuelles zum Karnichzug - Cranes migrating 23 external link

Turky - Turkiye

In Turky it is often too hot and dry for many birds, but you can find specialidsed ones and at special times of the year thousands of diverse species during their Migration (north / south) at the Isthmus, some books mention Bursa for counting location.

Many birds need woods and djungles, dense or light forstes, but all biotops have birds. At Antalya some Yellow-legged Gulls (Mittelmeermoewen), also Terns at the cliffs of Antalya and vertical takeoff capable (mostly in narrow streets) Turk doves, nice when they takeoff swiftly and vertical. (2nd half July )

Lake Balaton - Hungary

Visiting the Lake Balaton area second half of June 2023 during one sunday in a densly populated park area two Wuerfelnattern got seen in the lakeside from the parks shore platforms (25.june). First one a jung fishcatch Natter, the second more close to the Schilfguertel a full length grown up Wuerfelnatter (oversize) at hight of Al Fuered park was huge for a full grown diving into the Schilfguertel. These snakes are specialisewd fishunters and unpoisen.
(2nd half June// LEFT THE CAM AT HOME ... )

One time close a Smaragdeidechse in the dry leaves at a street, fast rushing away with a short stop watching me hiking along, near the main half island with the village, posh houses and abbey.

During same time bussards of a few species got seen along with a herd of hungarian Longhorn cows in the shade od trees over noontime.

One time from bus should have been a Snakeeagle close. Also Corn (Korn udn Wiesenweihen ) can be seen, here and then as well Marsh harriers near swamps. From bus it is often too little time to recognize, specify the specie.

In a bigger swamp field many herons, if not mixed with Ibises, seen from bus. Also some ducks as Knaeckenten, a couple in the waters, not far from people in the waters, then hiding in the breeding grounds again, also Haubentaucher and far away mostly Grey herons.

Nice Swan families but disturbing the halsschleifen on some of the male swans of the families. Have seen two with that bad plastik halsschleifen (bad bad, never want to seee that again)

Water quality of the lake seems to be special, had a good effect on skin, not clear but with some minerals and earth estimated.

Disturbing were the signs at mainstreet at the lake as -- "50 m to Lebmittelmatrcet/ kaufhaus, --- 12 km to Leb.mittelmarcet, 17 km Lebensmittelmarcet" ... and alike // life saving ?

Sandoz and its 10 000 kw/h volt line got seen on way north from marburg near big fields and tiny villages

Thayland

During the weeks in Thayland (Feb 2023) I got in sight of quite a few Kingfishers as Whitebreasted and Dwarf Orientals.

Further at Krabi south of Pukhet a biotop close to the pier of Mudjumpers (fish, see also backgounds at these pages) Theee may look funny but are specialised on living at muddy coasts where tehy live in the open mud during low tide, also near mangroves. Males are of the performing coment fights with showing backfins.

Along Thaylands coastlines the majestic Whitbellied Seeagle can be watched, often during sunsets when he is on way back with his final catch of the day. It is skymaster birds in big size, odte over the heads of local people without knowing it.

Eagle habits:
The snakehunter eagle is even dancing and performing in greatness over Lotos ponds and during hot tropical jets near the coasts in regions. It is an eagle specialised on hunting Seesnakes. It can also be heared and watched since 2015 at Goas northern coasts, when screeming it sounds bid like a calling goose but higher.


in muddy waters, along streets, at houses and temples, on graves ... !

Not to forget the Channa Family in the shallow waters (2023) of the special Guest House with solid huts on water, Kanchanaburi.

It is rare that you can see Channas with their kids, in full flush dots on fins, the female with the babyfish of about 3cm and the male always again checking the territoy (3-5 m) of dangers which he would keep away from the baby fish. Channas get big Raptors, also seen young ones at Polonnaruwa Sri Lanka. On this site more on Channa